Aiming for Halcyon Days
by twistedwriter101
Summary: Kuvira thought that her victory was imminent. The Red Lotus prove her wrong. They prove her very wrong, very quickly. AU, one-shot. Hints of Mingzan, P'Heer, and Korrasami.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing, it's just a world I'm playing in.**

**I know I wasn't alone in thinking that the Red Lotus would have so taken down Kuvira if they had lived… because who brings down dictators better than the good old RL? Thus, I present this little AU one-shot, peppered with P'Heer and Mingzan, lightly seasoned with Bopal and Korrasami and whatever other side ships happen to appear… though I'm not aiming to make this too romantic.**

**Also, to those following An Unspoken Attraction, I'm trying very hard to finish all of its material over my break… I have not given up on it.**

**Finally, as I have said, this is an AU… While I'm going by a lot of what happened in Book 4, there are some details that might not be completely in line with the show. I might expand this into something longer and more detailed later, but who knows.**

* * *

Everything was going well, or as good as it could be once Team Avatar had swarmed into the cave. Ming-Hua and Ghazan were controlling the bending brothers with relative ease, and Zaheer would surely drain the Avatar with the poison coursing through her system.

Flashing in between the pillars of rock, Ming-Hua gritted her teeth, trying to keep her balance as the firebender's attacks became fiercer. Her water tentacles swirled and slashed around her, ready to whip away his fire blasts.

_Slam._

Ming-Hua felt the rock shift under her feet. _Perhaps from the two earthbenders pounding the ground_, she thought hotly in the split-second she had between being airborne, losing her water, and smashing her head against a protruding crystal.

The petite waterbender was knocked out cold.

Ghazan grunted as he started to build momentum in his battle against the novice lavabender. Sure, he didn't want to harm the kid, he had grown on Ghazan over the past weeks… But Ghazan had loyalties to the Red Lotus, and the kid was in his way.

_Let's see, if I can just corner him-_

A sizzle against his rock weaponry brought him down. The firebending brother stood, face grim in victory…

_Ming-Hua, oh spirits…_

Now angered, Ghazan tried to fight the two, but in his newly-red view he had lost focus. Rocks and lava flew uncontrollably as his peripheral vision caught a lump lying in a crystal depression not far from him. Jaw clenched, he fought his way over to what he hoped was Ming-Hua. Soon he was standing over her, still unaware if she was breathing or not. The other lavabender fell back… Ghazan should have capitalized, should have realized that he was being set up and avoided it, but dammit, he had priorities. His moment of advantage, of winning, was instead spent looking at Ming-Hua, spotting that she was indeed alive.

A sharp crackling caught his attention, and he internally groaned.

_Cornered with a lightning bender, wonderful job, Ghazan._

All he could do was raise an earthen shield as the lightning shot towards he and Ming-Hua. Belatedly, he realized that he could do nothing but accept the blow as his shield exploded, rock striking his temple, causing him to lose conscious and cleanly fall over Ming-Hua.

* * *

_Just a bit more, then there will be people… help… water, healing… Ming-Hua…. Ghazan…._

_Zaheer._

Using every bit of determination she had garnered since her days under the warlord's control, P'Li pushed herself up the cliff. She could do little else before her concussed state caused her to slump over, a surprising sight for the members of the new Air Nation.

Through bleary eyes, she saw Zaheer encased in rock, the Avatar lying motionless in Tonraq's arms.

Zaheer's back was to her, and while she desperately wanted to be able to call out to him, some part of her was glad that he could not see her. She knew her face to be a blistered mess, shredded to bits from the metal she had blown off her face. Luckily, she could still feel her chi focused in her mind – her tattoo had to be somewhat safe then.

"What the-" P'Li heard from someone – was it one of the Beifongs? – before she completely blacked out.

* * *

The Red Lotus leaders awoke to find themselves in a cell. P'Li groggily opened her eyes, astonished to find that she felt no pain accompanying her facial moments. Zaheer was chained by his hands and feet, no longer floating as he saw his cell occupants. Ghazan wore the same bindings as Zaheer, the two men talking in hushed voices. Gingerly, P'Li moved her hands to find that a familiar plate covered her forehead, but she was mercifully healed of her explosive brush with death.

"P'Li!" Zaheer whispered as loud as he dared. Smiling in spite of their situation, P'Li reached for him.

Their chains weren't long enough.

Now that P'Li looked around, none of them could reach one another. The only exception was the form draped in Ghazan's lap.

Ming-Hua had no chains on her, nothing to bind her. The glaring lack of water rendered her effectively captured.

"What happened?"

Zaheer gazed at her for a long time before answering. "Somehow, the Avatar's allies found the cave. She broke free when the poison was administered." Here, he lowered his voice, leaning as close as he could to his love. "From what I gather, it was dumb luck that allowed those brothers to defeat Ming-Hua and Ghazan. Ming-Hua hasn't woken up yet… Aang's daughter healed your face, by the way. But P'Li, how… I thought you dead!"

P'Li shrugged under the heavy chains. "I don't know. I thought of pulling the blast, but instead did more and tried to blow the armor off… I guess it worked."

"I'm glad to see you're okay," Ghazan spoke across to her for the first time.

"You as well… Ming-Hua?" P'Li inquired, worried for the woman who had become like a sister to her.

"She's stable, according to them. But she hasn't woken up yet." P'Li watched as Ghazan forlornly gazed at the woman in his arms, cradling her as close to his chest as he could with his constraints.

"Prison… I never wanted to go back…"

The Red Lotus could only sit together in silence, their happiness at being alive shadowed under the consequences of their failure.

* * *

_Three years later…._

"I don't know how to stop her… I feel better than before, I know I can beat her in a one-on-one fight, but it's the army… How do we beat a Mechatank army without one of our own? A spirit weapon?" Korra ranted, exasperated.

The group of allies they had sat gathered around a table at Air Temple Island. Mako leant against a wall while Bolin, Asami, Tenzin, and the Beifongs completed the congregation. Through the window, they could see Jinora leading a group of airbenders in exercises with Bum-Ju fluttering around Bumi as he worked.

Tenzin sat forward in his chair, fingers steeped together. "I don't know, Korra. Varrick assured us that he could dismantle the spirit weapon as long as we get Kuvira out of the way, so I guess we need to focus on her."

"I just need to get her alone! I know I can beat her, I went and talked to Zaheer, I'm clear and ready to go!"

Bolin fiddled absent-mindedly with a piece of paper under the table, his fingers smearing the well-read ink.

"Guys, I have an idea!"

"Bolin, is this a serious suggestion or not?" Mako challenged.

"Well, I think it might work?" Bolin supplied.

"You know what, he's the only one with something. It can't hurt to hear it out," Asami reasoned.

Hesitantly, Bolin placed the note on top of the table. "I've been corresponding with Ghazan throughout my travels with Kuvira." Noticing the looks and faces he was receiving, he quickly added, "I figured that I should know more about lavabending, so I didn't hurt myself or someone else. He and I get along surprisingly well!" Bolin defended.

"Bolin…" Mako started warningly.

"Anyways, we have all of the Red Lotus members around the outskirts of the city. They made their namesake on disposing tyrants. We've all looked into the many disappearances of leaders from before the Korra kidnapping and even after… We know that they're good at what they do, and that's bringing down dictators like Kuvira. Yeah, we probably don't want her dead, but we can control them or something?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, the group started debating. Back and forth, rabble ensued for a few minutes before dying down.

"Well, Lin, anything to say? You've been unusually silent," Su observed.

Lin raised her eyes to meet Bolin's. "It's because I think he's got a decent plan. My only issue is that we have no idea how to maintain control over the Red Lotus. What's to stop them from breaking away once we get Kuvira, assuming they don't just kill her?"

Korra spoke. "You know, I don't think we'll need to control them. When I spoke with Zaheer, the discussion of Kuvira angered him enough that, I think, if we give them some negotiation, he could get the group to do it because they want to, not for us."

"Negotiate what, Korra?" Tenzin asked.

"I don't know, I'm the Avatar, not a judge. Maybe we could reduce sentences, put them on a strict form of house arrest, give them cells together, I didn't think that far ahead!"

* * *

In the end, Korra had gone to back to Zaheer first. He proved easily convinced, though she had put off negotiating rewards.

"And what do your friends think of this lack of bargaining?"

Korra ashamedly ran her fingers through her hair. "I, uh, didn't mention that I hadn't thought about it yet. Tenzin thinks we have our deal made."

A knowing smirk was her answer.

Team Avatar joined her for the rest of the way, Zaheer's assurances of no harm towards Korra falling on deaf ears. "Forgive, but don't forget," Mako had told Korra when she insisted that she would be fine.

Ming-Hua was picked up second, mercifully away from a volcano. The foursome had given the two Red Lotus members space – something that proved to be a good idea when Ming-Hua had started screeching at Zaheer. His placating mannerisms did little to appease her, and in the end, it took Zaheer the better part of an hour to bring the armless waterbender on board.

They had gotten the second female of the group soon after. Released from her chains in the cooler, P'Li and Zaheer had exchanged a few words before locking in a passionate embrace. Here Ming-Hua had turned, fake-gagged, and surprised Team Avatar by plopping down beside them.

Mako slowly edged away from her, but Korra had somehow managed to get along with the ill-tempered woman.

"Did they, you know, do this a lot before?"

"This?" Ming-Hua rolled a shoulder in the couple's direction. "Oh yeah. Which is why I'm here. Ghazan and I found many things to do to avoid them."

Bolin chuckled. "So, two out of three…"

Ming-Hua's warning glare shut him up. "You may be exchanging letters with him, but that doesn't mean I automatically like you like Ghazan did," she snapped.

Bolin's face dropped with indignation. "Hey!" was the only response he could muster before Asami patted his knee and stage whispered, "It's just because she misses him."

Ming-Hua had wished she had some water.

Finally, they made it to Ghazan's prison. Chains still shackled Zaheer's wrists and ankles together, Ming-Hua had no water, and P'Li remained bound with a metal plate covering her forehead and hands cuffed behind her, but that didn't stop the older members of their group from joining. Tenzin, Lin, Su, and Bumi flanked the young adults and Red Lotus.

They walked through the platinum shell suspended high in the air into the inner wooden sanctuary, only to find Ghazan lounging back, waiting for them.

"Finally!"

And with no hesitation, he strode forward through the now open bars, lifted Ming-Hua up, and kissed her. A few seconds later, after she had responded, he set her back down, briefly hugged P'Li, and clapped Zaheer on the back.

"So, Ghazan," Zaheer began.

"No, I got it," Ghazan interrupted. "Let's do this."

Almost all eyes turned to Bolin, who could only raise his hands defensively. "I saved us some time?" He tried.

* * *

Maybe it was some stroke of luck, but the Avatar and allies had no issues with the criminals. They all showered, ate, and chatted quietly in their own circle, away from everyone else. It was as if they had their own little world, not that Korra would complain.

After some amount of time, the mass of people sat together to debrief the four.

The Red Lotus then turned away, heads together, discussing strategy. A good chunk of time passed, but eventually Zaheer addressed the group.

"It's all taken care of."

Without proper clearances, the Red Lotus leaders were stuck on Air Temple Island for the night. Most were surprised at the civility that the group possessed.

"You know, once they get over the whole chaos thing, they aren't bad company," Lin muttered, watching as Ghazan told stories with Ming-Hua at his side, Zaheer waxed philosophically with Tenzin, and P'Li helped Pema with the dishes.

"Strange, isn't it? Seeing them live as people, simply people, not criminals," Su mused, walking to stand beside Lin.

Still, it was only one night, and against their better judgment, Korra and friends allowed the foursome two guest rooms in the living quarters.

* * *

"You know, of all the things to happen by giving them freedom on the island, this is what we get," Asami grumbled, tossing and turning on the bed.

"It could be worse?" Korra supplied.

A rhythmic thumping shook their room, though from which couple, they weren't entirely sure.

"True. Who knew they were two couples? I guess I would be pretty eager, too. Thirteen years, then all of that crazy stuff, then another three years."

"Ugh!" Asami finally gave up, situating her head between Korra's shoulder and the pillow, as Korra spooned around her, ready to doze off.

The next morning found Asami and Korra having breakfast with Bolin and Opal.

"Man, I thought I was being nice by giving Ghazan the room next to mine, but that was a mistake!" Bolin exclaimed. "I was up all night, so I had to beg Opal to let me sleep in her room!"

Korra and Asami exchanged a look. "Well, Zaheer and P'Li weren't exactly quiet neighbors either."

Tenzin entered the room. "As soon as you finish, we'll be ready to head out to where General Iroh has set up camp."

* * *

Iroh II had never met the Red Lotus, only hearing stories about them from his grandfather. He supposed that if the Avatar could trust them, so could he.

That didn't mean that he was spared from Ming-Hua's witty tongue.

"How's your grandpa doing?"

Ghazan could only shrug apologetically.

Iroh barely restrained an eyeroll. "Let's get on with this."

He led the large group into his central tent where a marked map lay on a great oak table. "Kuvira's lines start here. About half of a mile from there marks the beginning of her encampment. The mountains can be used as high ground to get parallel with her, but trying to get back down into the valley is impossible. Her front soldiers are good and placed even better." He paused the make sure that they were all following his fingers on the map. "As soon as you cross over the top of the hill, they strike. We've tried breaking through, but without Mechatanks, we can't cross the front lines. Not to mention that there's no way to haul a Mechatank onto the mountain ridges… And unfortunately, her numbers are too strong."

"How concerned are we with legal niceties?"

Iroh looked surprised at the question. He glanced towards Lin and Tenzin, then answered. "Raiko has not officially declared war, so legally… We shouldn't just kill people."

Ghazan held his hands up defensively, a move so like Bolin that Mako raised his eyebrows. "Did I imply that?"

"Um, yes."

"No, I didn't!"

"Ghazan, shut up," snapped Ming-Hua.

Zaheer shot his lavabending comrade a sideways glare before stepping forward. "Our concern is primarily how fair we should make our victory."

"Go on," Tenzin urged.

"Do we care about the land, the supplies, weaponry, spirits? Ambushes, full frontal force? We need all the details we can muster to do this cleanly."

"And most importantly," P'Li interjected, "how talented of a bender is Kuvira? We've been told that she is a master of metalbending, but can she do the seismic sensing thing that they can do?" She finished asking, pointing at the Beifongs.

"No. Well, at least, she couldn't when I tried to teach her."

Korra stepped towards Zaheer. "We can fix the land, it's barren, it can take the damage. If you can do this as cleanly as you claim, then supplies won't be an issue. The only weapon we want is Kuvira's spirit weapon, but if we defeat her today or even tomorrow, that won't be an issue. The spirits have already told me that they are going to stay out of this conflict."

The Red Lotus looked at each and nodded.

"We should fill you in on your roles."

* * *

"Noon? Broad daylight? That's ridiculous!" Lin snapped when Zaheer had finished speaking.

"Nobody asked you!"

"Ming-Hua, please." Addressing Lin, he spoke. "Kuvira is not dumb. She's probably already got a strategy in place to ward against a night attack."

"I happen to think that dragging a downed dictator through Republic City in broad daylight makes quite the statement!" Ghazan declared.

"Yeah!" Bolin jumped to agree. "What's more embarrassing than that? Nothing, that's right!"

"So, if we play this out like you all have said, you'll only need Bolin, Lin, and myself?" Su clarified.

"Right. And you won't even have to move into the valley."

Korra exclaimed, "Let's do this! We can end this today! It's what we want! And if our worst problem is an advancing, leaderless army, General Iroh can handle it with the rest of us."

* * *

An awkward rumbling started as a whisper in Kuvira's right ear.

"The men have detected a rockslide, a large group is already working to fix it," Baatar spoke, coming up beside her.

"You three!" She snapped, pointing to her commanders. "Go supervise that. I suspect it's a little more than an-"

Shouts cut her off. Whipping around, she turned to see lava rushing down the mountainside towards her front line. Shards of metal were shot up at the man standing at the highest point on the earthen wall, only to be reversed midflight.

"It's that traitor, Bolin! And the Beifongs, I'm sure."

"What do you want to do with them?"

"Take them out! You, stay here," she commanded, pulling one of her commanders back.

Calculating, she stalked back towards her tent. "Baatar, I want that weapon ready and here by the end of the day! Let Republic City pay for its 'heroes' actions!"

The sudden whooshing of air came down from the opposite side of the valley. The resulting explosion sent Kuvira into a defensive huddle, pulling her fiancé down beside her. Careening her neck around, she saw the ruins of a section of her Mechatanks, flipped onto to each other. Kuvira could only watch as successive blasts threw her front lines into a ruined mess of scorched and overturned platinum.

She heard Baatar's confused wonderings beside her, but her eyes were frantically trying to find the source of the blasts among the dust. The last time she had witnessed such a thing, she was thrown violently off a cliff, barely able to save her own skin with a metal cable.

The female combustion bender stood alone, blasting away. Her soldiers were trying valiantly to bring her down, but there was something else… Kuvira knew she had the numbers to withstand simultaneous attacks on her flanks, so why were the ambushes still ongoing?

As she stood, finally getting her bearings, she saw her remaining front soldiers held in place by ice.

"Where are the soldiers on the rear?" She growled at her remaining commander.

"There's a strange wall blocking them. It's too porous for them to bend efficiently – they aren't fully trained, and a majority of the rear guard is composed of nonbenders."

Lava.

Kuvira could hardly believe that the Avatar would so willingly use criminals to bring her in.

A shard of ice flew by her commander, causing him to duck. Kuvira, unable to find the lavabender behind her, turned back to the front.

Focused on the armless waterbender now charging towards her, she barely evaded the blast of air from overhead. Baatar wasn't so lucky, his back slamming into the earth, knocking him out.

And then the infamous Zaheer stood tall before her, the waif of a woman she knew to be Ming-Hua coming up behind him.

"Hello."

* * *

Korra shoved her eye as far as it would go into the telescope, trying to narrate the events to the best of her ability. Iroh used the only other scope available.

"-and now Ming-Hua just froze… spirits! She just froze the entire front line in ice!"

"I mean, we did give her more than enough water-"

"-and Zaheer knocks outs Baatar! P'Li is still decimating their supplies. Bolin and the Beifongs look like they're easily maintaining their position."

"Let me see!" Asami smashed her cheek against Korra, trying to share the eyepiece.

"Wow! Look at them go! I don't think I appreciated just how good of benders they are… But I mean, back then, we were fighting them. Didn't need to psych ourselves out even more."

Mako snatched the scope away. "But, it looks like they're just talking? Oh, no, nevermind."

They could only watch as Ming-Hua and Zaheer paired off against Kuvira and her soldier. Within minutes, the commander was incapacitated, and Kuvira was left to deal with the two. At first, she held her own, shooting metal and earth alike to keep the match even.

"Your criminals look like they're holding back now," Iroh commented.

"Probably because they've never needed to do the whole 'capture, not kill' thing before," Korra responded.

Bolin and the Beifongs had stopped their assault, standing atop the valley walls. P'Li ceased her blasts, now focused on Kuvira from her sniper's position.

The few soldiers who were still able to fight rushed towards Kuvira and her enemies. Zaheer turned, preparing to bat them away with a gust of air. Seeing her advantage, Kuvira made to throw her shards towards Zaheer, only to be redirected at the last minute by Ming-Hua. Snarling, hair loose, face flustered, Kuvira rounded on the shorter woman. Ming-Hua easily dealt with the barrage that the earthbending dictator threw her way.

Kuvira almost fell into the hole that ripped open in front of where her next step was.

Almost.

Confused, she turned her head, keeping the waterbender in her peripheral.

The lavabender had finally appeared after subduing the rear section of her army.

A cacophony of shouts let her know that Zaheer had done away with the last of her troops.

She stood up straight, surrounded by the three Red Lotus members, P'Li looming somewhere overhead.

Kuvira didn't stand a chance.

The first few jabs at her opponents held them at bay, but they quickly put her down, hands encased in ice behind her back, feet bound, floating in the air with a searing lava disk making threatening loops around her head.

"You know, my grandfather once told me that individually, the leaders of the Red Lotus could take down any master bender. Together, they could bring down the whole world. I see why," Iroh stated.

* * *

"Thank you. You four brought down Kuvira, which also allowed Varrick to dismantle that crazy spirit weapon." Korra spoke to the group of four.

"Just doing our job," Ghazan gruffly commented.

Here Korra paused, wringing her hands together in uncertainty. "I'm supposed to have told you your reward for all of this, but as the Avatar, I think that it's only fair to see what you wish and find a compromise."

P'Li raised an eyebrow at her. "You've matured," she said.

"Um, thanks… So what were you all thinking?"

"Prison is unbearable," Ghazan blurted out.

"No offense, but I don't think you all can just leave prison. You still have sentences, it's only been three years. Taking down Kuvira should definitely help that, but still…" Korra trailed off. If she was going to be honest with herself, she saw her group in the Red Lotus. Bolin and Ghazan obviously got along great during their time as pen-pals, she had gotten along with Ming-Hua more than she ever thought she would, P'Li reminded her of Asami's elegance and attitude, and Zaheer and Mako had the same protective urges… It was uncanny, and she had to blink to remind herself that those similarities were present, but there were still a lot of other things.

"You broke her," Ming-Hua flatly said to Ghazan.

Shaking her head to snap out of her reverie, Korra finally spoke. "I cannot overturn the rulings. As Avatar, I must be responsible with my powers and influence. But that doesn't mean that you should be kept in the conditions that you were before. The White Lotus prisons were, quite honestly, deplorable. And I would imagine that you four would want to be together…"

* * *

Lin waved her hand, giving Korra permission to enter.

Stepping into the platinum and wooden amalgamation of a cell, Korra saw a miniature sitting room equipped with a radio and a stack of movers by a projector. A bookcase took up one wall on its own.

Splayed out on a couch was Ghazan, Ming-Hua's head in his lap. Korra smiled as she saw _The Adventures of Nuktuk _playing against the wall. Ghazan lazily acknowledged her with a nod of his head.

"P'Li and Zaheer are in their room. I wouldn't interrupt."

"It's okay, Ming-Hua. I just wanted to make sure that our agreement was kept. Seems pretty nice in here."

"Oh, it is. Those two little rooms have our bedding and cots in them, along with a chamberpot. The guards take us out at separate times whenever we want to bathe, but this is bearable. Beifong is pretty good about getting us new movers and books whenever we request them."

"And Ghazan got to keep his pen-pal, that's what he's so happy about," Ming-Hua added.

"Yeah, but Bolin said you like to add some stuff here and there," Korra teased.

A huff was her only answer.

"I am sorry that I can't get you water, at least for your arms," she began.

Ming-Hua cut her off. "I never had any arms to miss, don't feel bad. I use what I'm given pretty well. And having the three of them around is more than enough."

An hour later, Korra departed.

"So maybe we're in jail again, at least we're together, in a nice cell, and we'll hopefully be out of here before we're ancient."

"Ghazan, we're only in our forties."

"Hush."

Ming-Hua smiled in spite of herself. "Bet you that the world is real glad nowadays that they didn't actually kill us."

* * *

**There it is! It's not an airtight plot, but that's okay, I just needed to get this out there!**

**Hope you all enjoyed reading it!**


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